06.20.10
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Winners of the 1st PHAT Physiques Body Transformation Challenge

Thank you and CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF YOU who participated in the “1st PHAT Physiques Body Transformation Challenge”!!!!! I was very impressed with the changes that all of you made! Wow! Great job!

Just so you know… This has been a VERY HARD decision to make because you ALL have done a great job the past 16 weeks! I’ve gone over it and over it as to who should be the winner because the top 3 were VERY close! You all had one different thing that was equally a little better than the other. I even thought of a 3 way tie, but figured you would want to see 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, & 5th, huh? And I also figured… if you didn’t win this time… you have a chance to win the next challenge… and it will give you something to work and push for. 🙂

Out of the top 3… Each of you sent in all of your pictures, but I had one that didn’t join the challenge until half way through. So I thought, should I count off for that because this person didn’t go the full 16 weeks? But then this person and one other of the top 3 sent in goals and not only reached their goals, but made even new goals and went even farther than they thought they would! Then I had another person that had GREAT before and after photos, but the percentage of weight loss wasn’t quite as high as one of the others. Whew… what a decision!

So since the top 3 were that close… I decided to go with who had the highest percentage of weight loss.

The 4th and 5th place winners also made great changes as well and should be VERY PROUD of themselves. Part of the reason that they weren’t considered in the top 3 is that they didn’t send in all of their photos throughout the challenge, so although they made great changes… sending in photos during the challenge when they were due, counted as part of the judging.

Are you guys ready to see the Placings?????

The top winners in the first “PHat PHysiques Body Transformation Challenge” are….

1st Place… Nicole Augustine

Nicole is the one that didn’t come into the challenge until April, which was about half way through, but lost the highest percentage of weight in the shortest time! She reached her first set of goals and then had to change them and kept on going. She even enter her first Bikini Divas Contest before the challenge was over. She joined PHAT Camp in April and started with a weight of 121.2 lbs. and ended up at 107.8 lbs. That’s a 13.4 lb. loss, making her percentage of weight loss 11.06% ! Good job, Nicole!

2nd Place… David Duyvejonck

David started the challenge from the beginning and sent in all his photos and made great changes in each set of photos that he turned in! I was very impressed with the difference from his first set of photos to his last set! David looks awesome and has good shape and ALOT of GREAT, quality muscle! He had a starting weight of 207 lbs. and ended with a weight of 185 lbs. That’s a 22 lb. loss, making his overall percentage of weight loss… 10.63% ! Great job, David!

(No before pictures for David, but he had an awesome transformation!)

3rd Place… Emily Eckstein

Emily is so INSPIRING and has worked so hard since I’ve known her. I met her in November when she first joined PHAT Camp and has lost over 30 lbs. since then! She had just started running a month or two before then and could barely make it 2 miles without having to walk. Since then she’s done several races, even including a Half Marathon! Her motivation is so contagious… I’ve done a couple races because of her example. She’ll be getting ready for her second Half Marathon next month and is now thinking of doing a Triathlon maybe next year! For this challenge… Emily had a starting weight of 183.4 lbs. and ended with a weight of 167 lbs. That is a 16.4 lb. loss, making her total weight loss percentage… 8.94%! Good job, Emily!!!

4th Place… Rachel Sanchez

Rachel is another very inspiring person who is also a runner and very active. I can’t believe all that she does… She Runs, Weight trains, & does my PHAT Camp every week! Rachel is also getting ready to do a Half Marathon in about a week! Running is just sooo easy for her. She has worked hard to get the results that she’s gotten in her before and after and should be very proud of herself. And… she’s even thinking about doing the next Bikini Divas Contest in August with “Team PHAT”! Rahcel had a starting weight of 144 lbs. and ended at 135 lbs. That’s a 9 lb. loss, making her total weight loss percentage 6.25% ! Good job, Rachel!

5th Place… LeAnne Quinn

LeAnne is an amazing woman that I met on YouTube! She saw the challenge on my YouTube Channel and wanted to join in. She was getting ready for the Nevada State Bikini Divas Competition that was held on June 5th. I went to the show to cheer her on and she looked soooo good! I don’t know her stats as to what her weight loss was, but I know she worked really hard and made some great changes! LeAnne is the one I haven’t heard from yet about her ending weight and if it’s ok to post her before pics, so I’m just going to post one of her after pictures that I’m sure she’s proud of. Good job, LeAnne!

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I’d like to say… “CONGRATULATIONS to the rest of the Challengers! Thank You ALL for participating in the “1st PHAT Physiques Body Transformation Challenge”! You ALL did an Awesome job and should be PROUD for making a commitment to Yourselves, Sticking to it, and Changing your Physiques!

You all deserve a BIG… “Way to Go”!!!”

Clifta Coulter Perez of… PHAT Physiques

Reno Personal Fitness Trainer

Reno Bootcamp Instructor

775-996-7183

06.19.10
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The Secret to the Body of Your Dreams!

EstraCort – The Secret to the Body of Your Dreams!

Estrogen, cortisol, hormonal imbalance… Chances are you have heard these terms and they probably either confused or scared you. Estrogen is quite a word. To some it might mean femininity and signify the essence of being a woman. But to someone interested in getting in shape, it might mean something altogether different. Estrogen is not bad, but excessive estrogen can lead to fat gain, cause difficulty losing fat, water retention, mood swings, cravings….and the list goes on and on! Combine that with excessive cortisol—the STRESS hormone, and reaching your goals and feeling your best will be extremely difficult to do! In todays fast-paced, stressful world it is not uncommon for estrogen and cortisol levels to get out of whack, creating a hormonal imbalance. Knowing this, PGN Nutrition with the help of world renown fitness trainer Chuck Rudolph, MEd, RD, and Two-Time Miss Olympia and Miss Fitness International, Jen Hendershott, created the PERFECT supplement to help women control estrogen and cortisol to help achieve their goals and get the body they have always dreamed of! The future of the fitness-minded woman’s supplement is here, and it is PGN Estracort™. The FIRST supplement designed to specifically address this essential need!

PGN EstraCort – Estrogen and Cortisol Support for Women

Hormones are chemical messengers that signal the body to perform certain actions. For example, after you eat carbs, the hormone insulin is released to signal the body to absorb these carbs from the blood stream. The body releases various amounts of insulin depending on the type and amount of carbs you eat. Controlling insulin levels through smart diet choices is important since high levels of insulin lead to fat gain. Insulin is not the only hormone that contributes to controlling your weight, there are many. Of prime importance are the hormones estrogen and cortisol.

Estrogen is the primary female hormone (comparable to testosterone in men). Estrogen gives women their feminine characteristics and testosterone gives men their masculine characteristics. Estrogen has numerous actions in the body. Estrogen is needed for normal functioning of the body but too much or the wrong types of estrogens can have negative effects on your body. The same holds true for another hormone called cortisol.

Cortisol is called the “stress hormone” because it is released in response to stress and anxiety. When released at a normal level cortisol helps restore homeostasis after stressful events. But, like estrogen, when too much cortisol is released or cortisol levels are elevated for too long negative affects arise.

Knowing all of this PGN has created a formula to control estrogen and cortisol levels, leading to increased fat loss, less water retention and an overall leaner figure.

PHAT GIRL NUTRITION ESTRACORT INGREDIENTS

Summary Of EstraCort Ingredients:

  • 250mg DIM (Diindolylmethane)
  • 200mg Calcium d Glucarate
  • 500mg PhosphatidylSerine (250mg)
  • 500mg Green Tea (50% EGCG/95% PE)

DIM (Diindolylmethane)

DIM, a phytochemical found in cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, is an estrogen metabolism modulator, meaning it favorably shifts estrogen metabolism. Estrogen is not a bad hormone, it is needed for normal functioning of the body, but certain metabolites of estrogen have more positive actions while other metabolites have more negative actions. DIM increases the amount of “good” estrogens (2-hydroxy) and decreases the amount of “bad” estrogens (4-hydroxy and 16-hydroxy). The good estrogens protect the brain and heart due to potent anti-oxidant activity, along with other positive actions, while the bad estrogens promote weight gain and are linked to cancer (breast and uterine). By supplementing with DIM your body’s natural estrogen metabolism becomes primed to create more of the good and less of the bad estrogens, leading to a health-promoting estrogen balance.

Calcium D Glucarate

Calcium D Glucarate is a botanical extract found in fruits and vegetables that promotes the removal of toxins and excess estrogens from the body. Calcium D Glucarate helps detoxify the body through a process called glucuronidation. The body naturally tries to removes toxins and excess estrogens through glucouronidation, but this process can become reversed by the enzyme beta-glucuronidase, which releases the toxins back into the body. Calcium D Glucarate increases the detoxification process by inhibiting the beta-glucuronidase enzyme, allowing the glucouronidation detoxification process to work its magic. Supplementing with Calcium D Glucarate increases the elimination of cancer-promoting toxins and estrogens.

PhosphatidylSerine

Phosphatidylserine is a phospholipid found in the membrane of all cells, particularly in the brain. Phosphatidylserine keeps cells flexible and primed for nutrient absorptive. Supplementing with phosphatidylserine has been shown to improve cognition, memory, and mood and decrease blood concentrations of cortisol. Excessive cortisol levels can lead to suppression of the immune system and the accumulation of abdominal fat. Supplementing with Phosphatidylserine not only will improve brain functioning but will also help control cortisol levels.

Green Tea

Green tea is a type of tea leaf (black and oolong are other types of teas). Green tea has been used by the Chinese to treat a variety of disorders for years. Green Tea has powerful antioxidant properties, specifically from the active EGCG, and has been shown to help protect against various cancers. EGCG has thermogenic effects and has been shown to assist in weight loss by decreasing dietary fat absorption, appetite suppression, and catechol-O-methyl-transferase (COMT) inhibition. COMT is involved in the breakdown of catecholamines (i.e. NE). By inhibiting COMT, NE breakdown is slowed and it is able to activate the adrenergic receptors to a greater degree and enhance lipolysis (fat breakdown). Supplementing with green tea extract improves overall health and helps promote fat loss.

Summary

  • DIM positively shifts estrogen metabolism to produce more good estrogens and less bad estrogens.
  • Calcium D Glucarate increases the elimination of cancer-promoting toxins and estrogens.
  • Phosphatidylserine not only will improve brain functioning but will also help control cortisol levels.
  • Green tea improves overall health and promotes fat loss.

Supplementing with DIM, Calcium D Glucarate, Phosphatidylserine, and Green Tea together will optimize a women’s hormone levels, promoting a leaner, more healthy figure.

Not only will Estracort support your overall health, but it might just be exactly what you need to shift your body into the DREAM ZONE – obtaining the body you have always dreamed of having! So stop wasting time and letting estrogen and cortisol spoil your results. Get the body you have always wanted with Estracort today!

Clifta Coulter Perez of PHAT Physiques
Reno Personal Fitness Trainer

Reno Bootcamp Instructor

775-996-7183

06.16.10
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Get Leaner and Lose Body Fat with Estracort

Estracort – Estrogen and Cortisol Support for WOMEN!

Estracort is scientifically formulated to help women safely and naturally support estrogen and cortisol to help support fat loss, reduce water retention and maximize results! Being on low calorie diets and everyday life can sometimes stress your body and cause you to release cortisol, which makes you gain belly fat… Estracort helps you to control that and get lean!!! I think this works great! It also helps you to get better quality sleep too.

I used Estracort for my last show. In about 3 1/2 weeks along with diet, cardio, and weight training, I went from the photo on the left… to the photo on the right. It seemed like Estracort  helped give me a little boost and helped me to get leaner than I would have without it. I also noticed that it helped me to sleep better.

Clifta Coulter Perez

Reno Personal Fitness Trainer

Phat Physiques….

775-996-7183

06.15.10
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Reno Personal Trainer Posing 2 days before Figure Show

Want to get in the best shape of your Life??? Whether you want to get ready for a competition or just want to fit into the sexy bikini… I can help!

Below is a clip from June 1o, 2010… 2 days before my Figure competition! I’m 42 years old and if I can do it… YOU can too!!!!

BELIEVE… and Stay Positive and True to Yourself…

Clifta Coulter Perez

Reno Personal Fitness Trainer

775-996-7183

05.22.10
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Reno Personal Trainer Shapes Up- Clifta’s “Before” Pics & “5 Weeks Out” Pics

05.02.10
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Reno Personal Fitness Trainer… Shaping Up Again!

Trainers can fall off the wagon too… just like YOU!

People tend to think that it’s easy for trainers to stay in shape. Well, let me tell you it’s NOT! We have hard times too and get caught up in work and life and sometimes can let ourselves go too, just like everyone else.

I know, because it happened to ME! Just because we are Trainers… doesn’t mean that we don’t have our challenges too to stay in shape. We  ARE  human… ya know. LOL.

I have been a trainer for 25 years now and was named Ms. USA in 1996 and turned Pro that day at the USA Bodybuilding Championships! I weighed in at 104 lbs… ripped and hard!

Over the last 4 years do you know what I found out?

You lose it if you don’t use it!

I retired from competing in 1996 after turning Pro, but still worked out pretty good up until about 2005, when I got a horse and started riding and showing again. At that point, I stopped working out and kinda started to slack on making healthy eating choices. I was still pretty active, but just didn’t do any weight bearing exercise.

Because I had so much lean mass and had been in great shape before… it took a while before I noticed what had happened to my body… It had gotten FAT!

Don’t get me wrong… my weight was still around 100-105 lbs… which wasn’t a problem. And how can 100 lbs. be fat, right? But when I got my body fat tested… my body fat had gone up to 23.6%!!! And my lean mass had gone way down. So you see… my weight hadn’t changed that much on the scale, but when I saw my body fat % and took my BEFORE pics… I could see a HUGE difference in my appearance AND I was shocked! My lean mass to body fat ratio had changed ALOT… and that’s what happens when you don’t exercise and make bad food choices. You lose muscle mass and gain body fat. And the more lean mass you lose… the harder it is to lose the body fat. You NEED lean muscle mass in order to lose the body fat! And you can’t always go just by the scale. You have to take BEFORE pics, get your body fat taken, & take measurements, as well as weighing yourself on the scale, so you can see what’s really working and what’s not.

Bottom line…

You have to exercise and eat healthy! There’s no getting around it if you want to look & feel your BEST! Especially as we get older because of our naturally declining lean muscle mass. As we age our lean mass starts to decline, which makes it easier for us to gain body fat. Exercise, such as weight training and bootcamps, along with making sure we eat enough lean protein, helps us to keep that from happening.

Now that I’m in better shape…

I won’t be so embarrassed to show you my awful “BEFORE” Pictures. YUCKY!!

None of my friends, family, and clients believe me when I said I had let myself go.

Well… I have PROOF!

And of course you can’t tell how jiggly my butt was in the BEFORE pics, but let me tell… IT WAS! lol.

February 2010…

Body fat= 23.6%     Weight= 101.4 lbs.     Lean Mass= 77.9 lbs.

April 16, 2010…

Body fat= 15.1%      Weight= 102.8 lbs.    Lean Mass= 87.3 lbs.

If I can do it from the Photos you see below… so can YOU!!!

Photo on the Left is BEFORE.  Photo on the Right is NOW. (from April 24, 2010)

Photo on the Left is BEFORE.     Photo on the Right is NOW. (from May 2, 2010)

Let me just say… I don’t ever want to let myself go again! It feels too good to be in shape… I had forgotten how that felt. My contest is in June and I have 6 more weeks left and will continue to change and get leaner. I still have a ways to go, but also have come so far from where I started!

It’s definitely not an easy journey… to change your body and your lifestyle… but it’s one that is TRULY WORTH IT… If you put forth the EFFORT!

Aren’t  YOU  WORTH  IT???????

BELIEVE… and Stay Positive and True to Yourself…

Clifta Coulter Perez

Reno Personal Fitness Trainer

PS… Drop me an email at cliftafit@yahoo.com if you’d like help with a “New” or “Current” Workout and/or Food Program. 🙂

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04.18.10
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April 18, 2010

Well, it’s 8 weeks from yesterday until my first Figure show. I weighed 101.8 lbs. today, which has been my lightest in awhile. I’ve started low carbs and should start to see my weight start to drop and also see myself get leaner. I really see a big difference this last week with lower carbs.

I got my bodyfat tested this past Friday and it’s down 8.5% from when I started in February! Yay! Lean mass is up 9.4 lbs. That’s what happens when you don’t workout for a while… you lose muscle and get FAT! Finally feeling like I’m on track now for 8 weeks out.

Just wanted to post a little update…

Clifta 🙂

Reno Personal Trainer

03.23.10
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8 Foods That Fight Stress

I thought this was a good article By Sara Reistad-Long
Dark Chocolate

High in flavonoids, which are lauded for their relaxing properties (chamomiletea is another great source), chocolate also contains phenethylamine, a chemical that enhances your mood. The darker the chocolate, the more healthy substances you’re getting in your diet, so look for bars that are 70 percent cacao or higher.

Skim Milk

Turns out that a glass of warm milk really is calming. One study found that women who drank four or more servings of lowfat or skim milk every day were about half as likely to experience stress-related PMS symptoms than those who drank less than one serving a week.

Oatmeal

Carbs help you produce serotonin, a calming hormone that helps fight anxiety’s negative effects-which is probably why many of us crave them when we’re stressed. Go with the craving and choose healthy sources. Oatmeal is high in fiber, which means that your body will absorb it slowly. In one fell swoop, you’ll prolong the serotonin boost, keeping yourself feeling full for longer (and on less) and making sure your blood sugar’s in check.

Salmon

Research shows that omega-3 fatty acids-abundant in fish like salmon-can help reverse stress symptoms by boosting serotonin levels, and that an omega-3-rich diet can also help suppress the production of the anxiety hormones cortisol and adrenaline.

Walnuts

They’ve been shown to help lower blood pressure, which is critical for those whose hearts are already working overtime thanks to high adrenaline levels. In fact, research so strongly backs their health benefits that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration goes so far as to recommend 1 1/2 oz per day.

Sunflower Seeds

A good source of folate, which helps your body produce a pleasure-inducing brain chemical called dopamine.

Spinach

Studies show that magnesium, which you’ll find in leafy greens like spinach, improves your body’s response to stress.

Blueberries

Their antioxidants counteract the effects of stress hormones like cortisol on your body.

03.10.10
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Lose Body Fat with These Good Sources of Proteins and Carbs

Just wanted to list some really clean & healthy sources of proteins & carbs.

These are what I’ve been eating for the past 5 weeks.

Proteins

Egg Whites

Egg Beaters

Chicken Breast

Turkey Breast

Salmon (can)

Tuna (can)

Carbs

Oatmeal

Brown Rice

Potatoes

Sweet Potatoes

Pasta (occasionally)

My Favorite Veggies

Broccoli

Spinach

Carrots

*I eat about every 3 hours and usually have a protein, carb, & veggie with every meal except my last meal before bed… no carbs.

*I also use stevia, ketchup, bar-b-que sauce, fat free dressing, & spices that contain NO SALT.

*I don’t use butter, mayonaise, or sugar.

*I drink water (1/2 my weight in ounces), crystal light, tea, coffee (1 cup in A.M.), & diet pepsi (maybe 1/2 to 1 per day).

*You can see my supplements here.

Thank you,

Clifta Coulter Perez

Reno Fitness Trainer

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